Butch Cassidy and the sacred underpants — Mormonism laid bare

Should a Mormon president worry us? Charlotte Eagar visits Arizona to meet devout cousins descended from the faith’s pioneers

Lewis Eagar, 79, still lives in the area settled by his Mormon forefathers (Steve Schofield)

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ext week America could elect its first Mormon president, in the person of
Mitt Romney, the 65-year-old Republican candidate. His religion has been
little mentioned on the campaign trail — at least, not as much as his
opponents would like. Americans see members of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints (LDS) as weird and cliquey.

“They don’t drink; they don’t smoke; they don’t have premarital sex. They
don’t do anything fun,” an American aid worker told me. They don’t let
non-Mormons into Mormon temples and they have a tendency to stick together.

This insularity is not often penetrated by outsiders, but some 19th-century
cousins of mine converted to Mormonism and founded a town, Eagar, in Arizona
in 1888. I decided to visit my Arizona cousins to find out more about the
religion that forged the man who could soon become the 45th president of the
United States — and what